Wyoming: BLM mismanagement blamed for mustang surplus.

The media can't get enough of the "plight of the mustang" ...

American horses threatened [link]
Jerry Abbott, Kevin Bottrell and Tyler Richards | Aug 15, 2008

BLM currently has the responsibility for the health and management of America’s wild horses and burros. In the past few months, They have sent a distress signal that the current 33,000 wild horses in the 10 western states plus 27,000 in short and long-term holding areas are far beyond their budget capabilities and action must be taken or there will be overpopulation of existing federal land and/or lack of funds to pay for the cost of the holding areas. The BLM has several ways they control the wild horse population. They conduct roundups to remove wild horses from BLM and government land. Horses that are passed over for adoption three times or reach the age of 10 are put into long-term holding areas. Since the wild horses have very few natural predators, the herds on public lands can double in size in just four years.

“We are not at a starvation point on the government land,” said Tom Gorey, senior public affairs specialist for BLM in Washington, D.C. “Removals of 7,000-10,000 horses per year are needed to ensure sufficient forage for those that remain. We are keeping horses for 25-30 years and adoption demand is not sufficient. We have limited [success] selling horses 10 years old... In three years we have sold 2,700 of these horses.” According to the BLM, this fiscal year it is costing $26 million of their total $37 million budget to manage the wild horse program including paying for the holding areas. This level of funding is not sufficient to support summer removals from the range while maintaining lifetime holding for older unadopted horses. Aside from major funding increases to the BLM for more holding locations, there appear to be few alternatives. According to Gorey, the option of not gathering up excess horses is not viable. “The impacts on vegetation would be an ecological disaster,” Gorey said. “We are mandated to maintain healthy herds on healthy lands. There is a concern for the general welfare for animals in and off the range.” Some critics of the BLM contend that cattle are grazing and taking up forage that should be available for the wild horses. “By law cattle are authorized on public lands for grazing,” Gorey said. “Cattle grazing is authorized on 160 million acres versus 29 million acres for wild horses and burros. We regulate cattle grazing through the permitting process. Livestock grazing is half of what it (legally) could be.”

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Executive Director Jeff Ruch disagrees. “Parts of the public range in Wyoming resemble the most devastated stretches of the Sahel in Africa,“ Ruch said. “As long as ranchers can use political chits to keep the maximum number of cattle on the range even in drought-stricken areas, the downward spiral in Wyoming will continue.” On the Web site www.equineadvocates.com, is a similar view. “The truth is that there is no wild horse over-population problem. There is, however a tremendous wild greed and avarice problem.”

In 2007 Congress temporarily shut down horse processing plants in the U.S. Previously, federal inspectors monitored the plants to ensure humane killing. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), the nation’s largest horse doctor group, fought this ban. According to horse welfare groups, if the BLM sells horses with no restrictions, most likely buyers will ship the horses to Canada or Mexico to processing plants. These countries do not have the monitoring for humane slaughter that is required in the U.S. With the rising cost of fuel and the rising cost of feed for horses, there is a greater reluctance for horse adoptions. The Mustang Heritage Foundation (MHF) and the BLM have joined forces to present several events that are meant to increase the adoption of mustangs. MHF has a goal of 1,000 mustang adoptions in 2008 resulting in estimated savings of $1.3 million. Betty Burlingame, owner of Rockn Bee Equestrienne Center in Torrington adopted a mustang. “Mustangs are very intelligent,” Burlingame said. “We just can’t let them be killed every year. These horses are our national heritage.” Burlingame said. “Euthanizing horses in the U.S. is probably the best solution for now.”

Dr. Tom Lenz has attended the Mustang Challenge, participated with mustang round ups, has visited BLM holding areas and has visited a U.S. slaughterhouse before they were shut down. “My personal opinion is that horses over age 11 or those that have been passed over for adoption three times should be dealt with at that time,” Lenz said. “They should be euthanized or sent to a processing plant. It is not practical to fund more mustang sanctuaries.” Lenz says that managing the mustangs is very political. “Most of the public has a mystical attachment to wild horses due to watching movies – that is not very accurate. It is tough because the BLM is caught between the emotional public and the practical.” Dr.Stephen Kerr, owner of Bear Creek Veterinary Services in Torrington agrees with Lenz. “Part of the problem is legal law suits from some animal rights groups,” Kerr said. “The mustangs seem to do good on the ranges but they can not eat it down to dust in drought situations. It is becoming common with no outlet for domestic horses for many of them to be dumped/abandoned due to the rising cost of feed. I don’t like to see animals euthanized just because there are too many of them but there are fewer and fewer adoptions.”

To decrease the number of mustangs, BLM is using a method of birth control called Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP). “PZP is an experimental drug approved for use by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS),” Gorey said. “The use of the drug is limited. It is administered to mares that roam 29 million acres of land. The drug has to be readministered and is only good for up to two years. The efficacy of the drug for use on a widespread basis is not a viable option for the near term.” HSUS is working with the BLM to improve the drug and the means of applying it. Since 2004 the BLM has administered this pelleted vaccine to a total of 1,808 mares on 47 of its 199 herd management areas but significant reductions in population increase has not been noted. With the need to remove 7,000-10,000 wild horses and burros from public lands every year, only around 4,700 of these are being adopted... there is a need for an additional 1,900 or more holding area spaces for wild horses each year. The BLM has said they need more funding for more holding areas. It appears the possible courses of action are to overpopulate the rangeland, pay for more holding areas, try other ways to increase adoptions, euthanize or sell horses with and without restriction (which might mean possible inhumane slaughter). “Watching a horse slowly die from starvation or disease is not only distressing, it’s cruel,” said Bonnie Beaver, former AVMA president.

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